I’ve literally just heard that a dear friend’s husband died sitting in his chair – most unexpectedly; news from another friend tells me that her neice has cancer of the cervix; another friend’s only son dies of a brain aneurysm at 36 year of age just before Christmas. What pain, what agony of spirit, what bereavement, what can we do?

It may all seem and feel hopeless, yet there is One who can bring hope and all the comfort that each of us needs. Whether it is loss or change of circumstance or plain boredom at times or about what we hear on the news, we, as human beings, all need comfort sometime in our lives unless we are hermits but even they need solace, being human!

I know only one Comforter and that is Jesus Christ and through His Spirit, He has made that comfort available to us to have in our lives. I easily go to the biscuit tin for comfort, or I’ll watch something on ‘iplayer’ or I’ll avoid a situation but time and time again I find that the only way to gain comfort is to come to the Lord Jesus Christ and pour out my heart to him. Then, He exchanges my sadness for the reality of what I’m in. I have God guiding my life; He’s promised to meet all my needs; and He is present with me through every emotional situation I face unless He is a liar and I know that this is not true as His words can be relied on from the Bible.

I have found that there are blockages to receiving God’s comfort:

Tiredness – then I see things all out of perspective

Believing lies – The Bible clearly advocates that we wear the belt of truth and this truth can set us free. If we don’t have the Bible words of truth clearly in our vision and thoughts then we become distorted and can’t receive what God has to give us.

Stubbornness – then I need to lay my burdens, worries and problems at the feet of Jesus. Matthew 11:28-30 clearly teaches us to share our lot with Jesus and He states that then our yoke is easy and our burden’s light if we actually come to Jesus in our need. I find it is so easy just to try to work things out myself, leaving Jesus out of the picture and sometimes I can be rebellious to just do my own thing anyway rather than finding out from Him the best way forward. Time and time again, God has to work on me to lay my will down and pursue His.

God is a Father and like a Mother to each of us and can comfort us even more than an earthly father or mother if we let Him. Our children need to know this and see Him provide what is lacking. As we and they call out to our Maker, then He comes and nestles and nurtures us as we are engraved on the palm of His hands and we are the apple of His eye. What a comforter He is as He loves us through the mazes of life!